The Mummy
The Mummy is an adventure film released by Universal Pictures on May 4, 1999. Starring actors Brendan Fraser as Rick O'Connell, Rachel Weisz as Evelyn Carnahan, Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep, John Hannah as Jonathan Carnahan and Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, the film was written and directed by Stephen Sommers, and produced by Sean Daniel and James Jacks. The film was based loosely on a 1932 film of the same name which starred Boris Karloff, intended originally as part of a low-budget film series, turning into a blockbuster adventure film. The story is commenced in the year 1290 B.C, and continues into the 1920's. The film grossed USD $43 million in 3,210 theaters. The film went on to earn $415 million worldwide (Domestic: $155 million; Foreign: $260 million). It was followed by a sequel in 2001 named The Mummy Returns. Synopsis Ancient Egypt In the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, in the year 1290 B.C, Seti I rules as pharaoh. Residing in Thebes is also the High Priest of Osiris, Imhotep, who acts as advisor, counsel and friend to Seti, but who houses a secret: Imhotep harbours a secret love, Anck-Su-Namun, Seti's mistress. The two love one another more than life itself, but as long as Seti lives, they may never be together, leaving them with the plan of assassinating the pharaoh. As a precaution to ensure that Anck-Su-Namun stayed within Seti's rule, she is painted in several coats of golden body paint, which ensures that no other man might touch her, though the precaution is thrown out when Anck-Su-Namun comes close to Imhotep as the two are in Anck-Su-Namun's residence and the they share a kiss, which ends in Imhotep smearing the paint on Anck-Su-Namun's left arm. At that moment, Seti, who has just come to Anck-Su-Namun's residence, is surprised to see Imhotep's priests at the residence, but is utterly infuriated when he sees Anck-Su-Namun with the paint on her arm smeared and Seti asks which man dared to touch her. At that moment, Imhotep comes from behind the pharaoh and is about to assassinate Seti with a dagger, but ceases as Anck-Su-Namun stabs Seti with another dagger, her lover joining in until Seti is killed. The Medjai, the pharaoh's elite guard, storm the residence, seeking whoever had committed the crime. The Medjai were too late to catch one of the real culprits as Imhotep leaves the scene at the request of Anck-Su-Namun, who states that only he could bring her back to life were something to happen. Upon discovering Seti's corpse and Anck-Su-Namun with a dagger, the guards watch as Anck-Su-Namun, feigning treachery, stabs herself in the stomach with the dagger used to murder Seti. Soon after Anck-Su-Namun's burial, Imhotep and his priests unearth her body and race into the deserts to seek Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, where the wealth of kings and the resting place for pharaohs lays. Here Imhotep seekes out the black Book of the Dead so as to revive his love, and begins to perform the spell that would bring her to life. But before the ritual can be completed, the Medjai, who had followed the priests as they headed to Hamanaptra, storm the chamber where the ritual is being performed. To commit an act such as bringing one back from the dead is blasphemy of the worst calibre, and so the priests are all condemned to death by being mummified while they were alive. Imhotep, having led them into their sin, is condemned to endure the Hom-Dai, a curse so horrible that it had never before been bestowed. The priest's tongue is ritualistically cut out, and he is bound tight in wrappings, placed in a sarcophagus which is filled with flesh-eating scarab beetles. As the scarabs slowly eat Imhotep alive, the lid is placed over the sarcophagus and sealed with a key resembling a puzzle-box. The Medjai and their descendants vow from that time on to watch over the city's ruins so that none might find either Imhotep or the means to bring him back to life, for if he should be revived, all mankind would be doomed. Battle at Hamunaptra In 1923 A.D, years after the pharaohs of Egypt had fallen, the Medjai still exist, becoming a furtive secret society over the years with the same goal as they did centuries ago: to ensure that none finds the buried Imhotep. One group of Medjai led by Ardeth Bay stand vigil over Hamunaptra, witnessing a garrison of the French Foreign Legion that have found the ruins, setting up their post within the crumbling walls. The Legionnaires in the garrison believed so much that Hamunaptra existed that they trekked across Libya into Egypt, and encountering a great army of Tuareg warriors at the site. Rick O'Connell, an American serving as corporal in the Legion, has been promoted once the leader of the garrison, Colonel Guizot, deserts the ruins on horseback, leaving his men on their own. O'Connell leads his fellow Legionnaires into successfully bringing down many Tuaregs, but as the battle wages on, the Tuaregs kill off more and more Legionnaires until only O'Connell himself and another Legionnaire, a man named Beni Gabor, survive. O'Connell blasts away many Tuaregs with his pistols, but finds himself outnumbered once his bullets run out. The Tuaregs chase him into a corner, but can't fire, as their horses are frightened off by something within the sand; with this, the Tuaregs leave Hamunaptra, leaving O'Connell alone to face whatever is in the sand, until the movements in the sand drive him off as well. Running off into the desert, O'Connell notices a group of men on horseback watching him in the distance, Medjai, who decide not to kill him, as the desert would do that. Artifacts Three years after the battle at Hamunaptra, in the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, a young aspiring Egyptologist by the name of Evelyn Carnahan is given an artifact by her brother Jonathan Carnahan; the object is similar to a puzzle-box and clicks open to reveal eight different-shaped edges and a map made of papyrus. Evelyn and her brother show the item to the museum curator, Dr. Terence Bey, who dismisses the box and the map inside as nothing more than fakes. Upon examining the box, however, the three scholars learn that the box was actually the key to Hamunaptra, and that the map within must be real. The curator idly holds the map for a moment and inadvertently brushes the paper against a small candle on his desk. The map half-destroyed, the curator states that it was for the best, as men had sought after Hamunaptra for many years, and none had ever found it, with most never returning. Evelyn, however, is not as quick to defeat, and has her brother take her to the previous owner of the map: a former French Foreign Legion corporal named Rick O'Connell who had been pick-pocketed by Jonathan for the box, with the former officer being incarcerated in Cairo prison. Evelyn meets the man with interest, as he had been to the City of the Dead and come back alive, and although O'Connell is brash and impudent, he agrees to tell Evelyn how to reach the ruins, provided he is set free, sealing his words with a kiss. After a monetary debate with the warden of the prison, Gad Hassan, O'Connell is set free, so as to lead an expedition with the Carnahans to find the City of the Dead. Once at Giza Port, O'Connell meets with the Carnahan siblings and boards a riverboat with them that would take them all to the next point in their travels; this expedition joined by Warden Hassan, who demands to come along so as to protect his investment. Riverboat Once on the riverboat, O'Connell and his group meet other men seeking Hamunaptra: three American treasure hunters and their professorial consultant. The Americans make a wager with O'Connell that they would reach the City of the Dead first, which O'Connell sportingly accepts. Later that night, O'Connell tells Evelyn of his experience in the ruins, and that he comes armed because something resides in those ruins: evil. Evelyn, however, does not believe in curses and dismisses the notion of evil lying beneath the sands, hoping instead to find an ancient artifact known as the Book of Amun-Ra; O'Connell insisted that it is wise to be armed in case. Evelyn then asks him why he had kissed her back at the prison, with O'Connell responding that he was about to be hanged and that it seemed right at the time. At that, Evelyn leaves in a huff, leaving O'Connell alone until he meets up with another former Legionnaire: Beni Gabor, whose actions of cowering in the ruins had almost gotten O'Connell killed. Beni reveals that he is leading the Americans to Hamunaptra, but asks why O'Connell, who had never believed in Hamunaptra, is returning. When O'Connell reveals that it is because Evelyn had saved his life, Beni sarcastically jokes about it: O'Connell not appreciating the humour and subsequently tossing Beni overboard. That night, a number of Medjai come aboard looking for the puzzle box and the map that Evelyn owns. One Medjai has Evelyn at the point of a blade, which O'Connell sees and begins fighting against the assailants. O'Connell quickly begins shooting off many of the men, joined by the three Americans, but the Medjai have caused too much damage to the riverboat to remain aboard, compelling O'Connell and all others aboard to jump ship and swim to shore. The passengers all reach the riverbanks safely, but Beni and his employers succeed in obtaining the horses and camels from the boat, leaving O'Connell and his fellows to purchase their own rides at a Bedouin trading post the next morning. O'Connell points out derisively that Beni and his group stand on the wrong side of the river. Desert Journey The four riders travel through the desert to find Hamunaptra, until they reach a point in the Sahara where they encounter Beni and his employers, now with three dozen diggers in their midst. Both groups pause for a moment as the sun rises, then resume their journey, each group racing against the other to reach the city first. The group consisting of Evelyn, O'Connell, Jonathan, and the Warden win the race, reaching the ruins before the others do. Once camp is being set up, the Americans take the best areas to search for treasures to themselves, as the smaller group searches for openings to the chambers below. Underground Chambers Making their way to the underground chambers, the group headed by O'Connell searches through the tunnels for any areas in which to dig and find treasures. Reaching the base of the statue of Anubis, the four treasure hunters begin to hear strange sounds coming from around the statue; guns out in the open, they turn around to face the source of the sounds, coming instead face-to-face with the rival group, also armed. With both groups meeting in the same area, the argument over the right to dig at the statue base begins, ending with the Americans and their diggers winning the statue base; as Evelyn notices quietly that there is another chamber below, she surrenders the chamber to the larger group. Beginning to dig and pry at the stone ceilings, O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan believe that they can find the secret compartment that houses the Book of Amun-Ra, and take it while the Americans are all distracted. As they are working on the ceilings, the Warden separates himself from the rest of the group, making his way through a passageway where he finds an elaborate mural on the wall. On the mural are several shiny stones, which the Warden identifies as precious and begins to pry off the walls with a knife. Meanwhile, in the chamber above, one of the Americans, a man named Henderson is about to pry open the compartment at the statue base of Anubis in the hopes of finding treasure before he is stopped by the Egyptologist Dr. Allen Chamberlain, who informs him that that the Pharaoh was no fool to make his valuables so easily obtained, and so advises the treasure seekers to have the diggers open the compartment instead. Three diggers step forward and began to pry at the compartment as the Egyptologist urges them on, pushing harder and harder until a torrent of salt acid shoots out at the three diggers, killing them. After some time has passed, Jonathan manages, by accident, to find a compartment where a sarcophagus is stored, releasing a large stone coffin. While the two others present stand in awe at this find, the Warden is still prying stones off the walls elsewhere, until one stone, having missed his bag and fallen onto the floor, cracks open, revealing a living scarab beetle, that tears open the Warden's shoe and eats its way up the Warden's skin to his head. The other three examine the sarcophagus that has fallen from the ceiling, and deduce that the puzzle box that had been the cause of the Medjai attack on the riverboat is the key to opening the sarcophagus. Putting the key's ends in place, the three treasure seekers understand how to open the sarcophagus, but the moment is cut short when screaming erupts from the tunnels outside. Guns out again, O'Connell and the Carnahans rush out to find the Warden screaming and clawing at his head, running almost as if mad; pushing the others out of the way, the Warden runs shrieking head first into a stone wall, killing himself. Invasion and Aftermath That night, the treasure seekers' campsites are invaded by a group of Medjai, who come on horseback and kill off a number of diggers. The treasure seekers from both expeditions begin firing their pistols at the warriors, taking down some of them, until O'Connell is confronted by the Medjai leader, Ardeth Bay, who disarms O'Connell of his gun before O'Connell rushes backward and lights a stick of dynamite, holding it out to show the Medjai chieftain that he will not give in so easily. The Medjai chieftain decides to call off his warriors, telling the expeditionaries present that they will shed no more blood, but that they must leave the ruins or die. Giving the expeditions one day to leave, the Medjai leave the campsite, which causes some puzzlement among all the treasure seekers as to why a group of nomads would attack for no apparent reason. Making the decision to stay and to combine forces at night, the expeditionaries move their tents to one shared area. Later, the relationship between Rick O'Connell and Evelyn Carnahan begins to grow, as Evelyn, now loosened somewhat, tells O'Connell of her family, and of her father, who was a famous explorer. As the librarian inches closer to the adventurer so as to kiss him, she passes out completely in a drunken state, having had some of the late Warden's whiskey. Findings The next morning, the treasure seekers of both expeditions return to the tunnels and chambers below: the Americans and their diggers returning to the compartment at the base of the statue, where they extract a wooden chest. As the three Americans step forward to pry the chest open, the Egyptologist informs them that the chest has a curse placed upon it. The Americans do not believe in the curse, although the Egyptologist warned them all that the curse would strike them all were they to open the chest. Regardless of the given consequences, the four Americans proceed to force open the chest, as Beni and their diggers run off in fear, thus putting them in danger in the event that the mummy was resurrected. Meanwhile, the smaller group finds another item: a mummy that was preserved inside of the sarcophagus that they had found earlier. Oddly, his skeleton is entirely intact, and there are scarab skeletons inside the sarcophagus as well. The mummy had been buried alive and had managed to claw a message into the wall of his sarcophagus: "Death is only the beginning". That night, as both expeditions talk about their findings over a campfire, Evelyn noticed that the Egyptologist has found the Book of the Dead and is attempting to pry it open with his hands, to no avail: without the key, Evelyn states, the Book remains locked. Later, as all in the campsite are asleep, Evelyn steals the Book of the Dead from the Egyptologist's grip as he sleeps, and uses the key to open the locks. Evelyn then opens the Book and begins to read the words aloud, not knowing that the mummy found below in the chambers is awakening. Dr. Chamberlain awakes screaming at Evelyn to not read from the Book, but the damage has been done. A swarm of locusts flies out over the horizon, engulfing the camp and its residents entirely, as most of the expeditionary run into the underground passageways. The expeditions are separated: the three Americans run down the corridors with a number of their diggers, but Burns, one of the three Americans, trips and falls, losing his spectacles, which are crushed by Beni as he attempts to reach the others. Unable to see where he is, Burns stumbles about the corridors blindly, seeing a fuzzy-looking figure at the end of the corridor, but unable to see who it is. The figure sneaks up from behind him and attacks Burns as he screams in terror. Meanwhile, the others throughout the ruins are besieged with the peril of running from man-eating scarab swarms. As O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan run through one corridor, Evelyn is separated from the others and falls through a trapdoor in the wall. Evelyn finds herself in a dark chamber where she sees Burns, his back turned to her. As she leans forward to speak to him, Burns turns around to reveal that his eyes and tongue have been torn out. Evelyn is then caught by the culprit: the mummy that she and her fellows had found before had stands behind her with Burns' eyes and tongue in its skull: Imhotep. The mummy walks towards her, believing her to be Anck-Su-Namun, and roars in anger when approached by O'Connell, Jonathan and the two Americans. O'Connell roars back in mock gesture and blasts Imhotep in two with his elephant gun, allowing the expeditionaries to escape. The expeditionaries are found and surrounded by armed Medjai who have already taken Dr. Chamberlain hostage; their leader, Ardeth Bay, explains that because they did not leave, they have brought forth an ancient suppressed evil that has been feared by the Medjai for over three thousand years, and Ardeth Bay informs O'Connell, who had shot the mummy, that mortal weapons cannot kill the creature as he is not of the mortal world. Two Medjai warriors then bring Burns forward. Though at first Rick believes the Medjai to be responsible, the Medjai explain that they had in fact rescued Burns and he was lucky to survive before the creature could finish his work. Commanding them all to leave, Ardeth declared that his fellow warriors will go on the hunt and try to find the means to kill the mummy, for the creature is the bringer of death, never resting until his curse overtakes the whole of the Earth. Meanwhile, Beni, who has been separated from the rest of the group, wanders the catacombs and finds himself face to face with the mummy; Beni tries to plead for his life with religious icons from different beliefs, but only the Star of David, the Hebrew symbol, appeals to Imhotep, who knows that it is the symbol of the former slaves. Imhotep declares that he has use for Beni, and that in exchange for his servitude, he would be rewarded greatly. Return to Cairo The surviving expeditionaries and diggers return to Cairo after their experiences in the desert and reside in Fort Brydon, the British military outpost within Cairo. In Fort Brydon, Evelyn begins packing her trunk with clothes so as to return to Hamunaptra, but O'Connell tries to persuade her to do otherwise. Unable to convince Evelyn, O'Connell leaves her quarters to have a drink in a bar, where he finds Winston Havelock, an aging British aeroplane pilot that rues not having died in battle, who drunkenly laments his predicament aloud before leaving. O'Connell then meets up with Jonathan, Daniels and Henderson, the latter two planning to leave Cairo for Alexandria with Burns, but the boat will not leave until the next morning. Meanwhile, Burns, who remains in his quarters, meets with the mummy himself, who Burns is informed is a prince seeking to buy Burns' canopic jar. Imhotep wears a mask and long dark robes to conceal his identity, with Beni as a mediator. Beni informs Burns that "Prince Imhotep" thanks the American for his hospitality,as well as his eyes and tongue, but Imhotep's work is not yet complete. He proceeds to drain the life out of Mr. Burns as he screams in terror. Meanwhile Henderson and Daniels toast O'Connell and Jonathan with a drink, but promptly spit it out, along with the other bar patrons once they see that it is blood, as is the water coming from a fountain in the bar. O'Connell hastily sprints out to meet Evelyn, informing her that they have reached problems; at that moment, thunder crashes and hail and fireballs rain from the sky, destroying buildings and incinerating people. During this, O'Connell finds Beni and attempts to force the Hungarian to tell where he's been, but a loud roar from upstairs of the building that Beni emerged from distracts them all, and O'Connell and Evelyn rush in to find Burns a desiccated corpse in a bathrobe and blindfold. At the end of the room, in front of the fireplace stands Imhotep, already regenerating. O'Connell begins firing at the corpse but the shots do nothing, nor do those of Jonathan, Henderson and Daniels, who all open fire as well. The mummy throws O'Connell clear across the room, knocking down the other three men before proceeding to lean forward to Evelyn, thanking her for bringing him back from the Underworld. Imhotep attempts to kiss Evelyn but her cat Cleo makes her presence known by standing on the keys of a piano in the room; terrified at the cat, Imhotep groans aghast and departs the room in the form of a sandstorm out the window. Seeking answers, the survivors (O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, Daniels and Henderson) all head to the Cairo Museum, seeking the help of Dr. Bey, who Evelyn states can provide answers, finding the curator with the chieftain of the Medjai himself, Ardeth Bay. The three Americans and Jonathan point their pistols in their direction as Evelyn asks what the Medjai is doing there, to which Dr. Bey calmly asks them to lower their pistols so that they might explain. The curator goes on to explain that the Medjai are an ancient society that devoted itself to the protection of mankind for the past three thousand years, guarding the city of Hamunaptra from thieves and those that might activate the curse of the mummy, a goal which, thanks to Evelyn, has been brought to ruin and which justifies the murder of innocents should they impede the Medjai goals. Dr. Bey explains that Imhotep, in his undead form, fears cats because they are the guardians of the Underworld and will fear them until he regenerates, at which point he will fear nothing, Daniels and Henderson being especially fearful of how the mummy regenerates. Evelyn notes that while the group was in Hamunaptra, the mummy called her "Anck-Su-Namun" and while they were in Burns' quarters, he attempted to kiss her: Dr. Bey notes that Imhotep was cursed for his love of Anck-Su-Namun and that even after three thousand years he is still in love with her, intending to bring her back from the dead and use Evelyn as the sacrificial victim needed. As Jonathan remarks that it's bad luck, Dr. Bey states that it might give them the time needed to kill Imhotep, but Ardeth Bay looks up through the museum skylight to see that the sun is being blocked out, a sign that the mummy's powers are growing. Later, at the residence where the survivors are staying, Evelyn asks who was present when the chest was opened: Burns, Henderson, Daniels and the Egyptologist, Dr. Chamberlain; Beni ran in fear before they could open the chest. Evelyn notes that they must rescue the Egyptologist and bring him back to Fort Brydon before the mummy can reach him; O'Connell agrees, ordering Evelyn to stay, and Henderson, Daniels and Jonathan to accompany him, to which all the others protest loudly against. Evelyn insists on coming along but O'Connell lifts her up and locks her in her room, giving the two Americans orders not to let her out or anyone in before leaving with Jonathan. Meanwhile, Chamberlain runs through the streets of Cairo with a canopic jar and the Book of the Dead, unnerved at the sudden darkness and unknowing that Imhotep, clad in ragged black robes and a hood, is hunting him. Beni, taking advantage of the Egyptologist's disappearance, proceeds to ransack his office, looking for the Book of the Dead when O'Connell and Jonathan find him. Beni attempts to escape but O'Connell throws a chair at him, impeding him from jumping out the window. O'Connell demands to know what Beni is doing with Imhotep and what he gets out of it, to which Beni responds that as long as he serves Imhotep, he is immune from Imhotep's powers. Demanding to know what Beni is after, O'Connell lifts the Hungarian up by his shirt towards the ceiling fan, at which point Beni reveals all: the Book of the Dead is what Imhotep wants and he told Beni that it would be worth its weight in gold. Beni goes on to say that Imhotep plans to use it to bring his "dead girlfriend" back to life, but that other than the Book and Evelyn, he wants nothing. About to say more, Beni is cut off when a loud screaming sounds outside, and Beni takes advantage of the three's distraction by kneeing O'Connell in the groin and jumping out the window, escaping. As they look outside the window at the city streets, O'Connell and Jonathan find the desiccated corpse of Dr. Chamberlain, with Imhotep standing over him, surrounded by frightened Arab bystanders. Taking the jewelled canopic jar from Chamberlain's withered grip, Imhotep turns around to face the window, revealing a face slightly more regenerated before dislocating his jaw to let loose a massive swarm of flies, which swarm all around the locals as Imhotep strides through them. Regeneration Back at Fort Brydon, Daniels' unease grows with having to guard the door and leaves to get a drink. Henderson proceeds to watch the door alone when the window opens with a blast of wind and sand, at which point Henderson is lifted up in the sandy cloud and sucked devoid of organs. The sand settles and Imhotep, almost entirely regenerated, strides toward the door, passing the corpse of Henderson. Imhotep enters the locked room by taking the form of sand and slipping through the keyhole, coming up on the other side to find Evelyn sleeping. Imhotep softly utters "Anck-Su-Namun", shuts his eyes and kisses her, indifferent to her waking up screaming as his face starts to decay. At that moment, O'Connell and Jonathan burst in, O'Connell yelling at Imhotep to get away from Evelyn; Imhotep hisses a retort in ancient Egyptian and O'Connell picks up Cleo, Evelyn's cat, brandishing her at Imhotep, who roars in fear and blasts his way out the window. O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan and Daniels are the only survivors and head to the museum to seek help from Dr. Bey and Ardeth Bay in examining the artifacts on display for clues as to the location of the Book of Amun-Ra, which can kill Imhotep, when they hear chanting outside and look through the window to see the people of Cairo, plagued with boils and sores. They march in a massive crowd chanting Imhotep's name; they have become his slaves. The townspeople then proceed to try to break through the museum doors as Evelyn and Dr. Bey read from a slab covered in hieroglyphs, and Evelyn concludes that the Book of Amun-Ra is back at Hamunaptra inside the statue of Horus (god). Jonathan runs out to start the car for an escape and is almost caught by the enslaved townspeople but throws them off the trail by acting zombified himself, and he runs to the car, bringing it to the museum entrance where the five others escape the museum. Beni, however, catches them and alerts Imhotep to their presence: the mummy roars, and his minions pursue the car through the streets of Cairo, when a large crowd of them blocks the road. The car drives through them, and is covered quickly in minions who attempt to wrest the passengers out of the car, succeeding in throwing Daniels out, who is backed up into a corner and fires his guns at the enslaved villagers, quickly running out of bullets as Imhotep himself strides in. Daniels, in fear for his life, presents the canopic jar and Imhotep roars furiously, proceeding to kill Daniels and take his organs. The remaining five drive through Cairo when the car crashes and the enslaved villagers swarm all around them, blocking the exits: Imhotep then walks coolly through them, fully regenerated and asking Evelyn to come with him, in exchange for sparing her friends' lives. Reluctantly, Evelyn steps forward as O'Connell tries to stop her but Evelyn states that Imhotep still needs to take her back to Hamunaptra to complete the ritual. Leaving the scene, Imhotep goes back on his word and orders his slaves to kill the survivors as Beni pilfers the puzzle box from Jonathan. The survivors escape the slaves by diving down a sewer, with the exception of Dr. Bey, who stays behind to fight the minions at the cost of his life, allowing the others to escape. Catching Up The next day, O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth Bay reach the Royal Air Force Airfield on the outskirts of Erfoud, where they find Winston Havelock, who asks about the mission, wondering if it is a deadly one, to which O'Connell insists that it is, and that he likely won't survive through it. Upon hearing that it is a "kill the bad guy, rescue the damsel in distress, save the world" challenge, Winston accepts happily, offering his biplane, which has only room for a pilot and gunner: Jonathan and Ardeth are tied to the plane's wings and the pursuit begins. Imhotep has reached the desert with Evelyn and Beni in tow when he hears engines roaring in the sky and Evelyn looks hopefully up, knowing that O'Connell has returned for her. Imhotep, however, fights back by summoning all the sands of the desert and unleashing a vast sandstorm that pursues the plane throughout the desert; O'Connell tells Winston to fly faster when the sandstorm takes on a smiling human face, which O'Connell fires at with the machine gun in the plane. The plane is soon engulfed in the desert sands as Imhotep attempts to kill O'Connell and his friends by causing the sandstorm to literally swallow the plane; Evelyn takes action and kisses Imhotep fully on the lips, ending his grip on the sandstorm but the plane crashes, to its pilot's delight at earning a hero's death, from the engines overheating. Thinking the plane's passengers dead, Imhotep calmly stride over to the ruins of Hamunaptra with Beni and a distraught Evelyn; the plane's passengers, however, escape the wreckage alive, save for Winston, whose neck was broken in the sandstorm. The plane then begins to sink into the desert sands, taking Winston's body with it, as O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth Bay pay Winston a silent salute at his help and proceed to the ruins. Battling Imhotep O'Connell and his party arrive at Hamnuaptra and begin to pry apart the rocks that block an entrance into the tunnels while Jonathan holds up the torch and humorously tells them too go faster much to there frustration and anger, but Jonathan is distracted by a wall mural that has several jewels embedded into it. Prying one off and holding it, Jonathan examines it for a moment before it split open and reveals a scarab beetle that cut into his hand, almost reaching his head before O'Connell takes a knife and cuts the beetle out, flinging it aside and blasting the insect with a revolver. However Imhotep hears the gunshot echo from the halls, knowing that O'Connell and his friends have survived. Imhotep reaches into the broken canopic jar that once had held Anck-Su-Namun's heart and pulls out the organ, holding it in his hand before crushing it to dust and blowing it against a stone mural of two priests. Muttering an incantation, Imhotep brings the stone priests to life; the priests in the mural are two of his priests from ancient times who had been mummified alive by being encased within the walls. Imhotep gives them the order to kill O'Connell and awaken the other priests. As the three men continue to walk through the corridors, O'Connell notices a mirror-like object close to the ceiling in one chamber: with one shot he turns it, illuminating the room with sunlight and revealing great amounts of golden treasure, which O'Connell restrains himself and a dazed Jonathan from taking. As they look about the chamber, they hear a croaking sound with a mummy revealing itself, cracking through the floor. As one corpse comes from the floor, so do others, joined by more mummies that come from the corridors groaning. The three men take out their guns and begin to blast the mummies away, heading to the statue of Horus so as to find the Golden Book. Meanwhile Beni seizes his chance to steal as many treasures as he can, loading a satchel of the pilfered gold and jewels onto the camels of the legionnaires that still linger about the ruins. The gold that he has collected, however, does not seem enough, so Beni returns inside, taking more treasures out. Once O'Connell, Jonathan and Ardeth reach the statue of Horus, O'Connell and Jonathan begin to try and pry its compartment open as Ardeth provides cover fire. O'Connell and Jonathan continue to pry at the compartment when a large group of mummies burst through. Once the compartment is opened, the Golden Book is extracted and Ardeth tells O'Connell and Jonathan to save Evelyn and kill the mummy off, leading the mummies away as he runs through a corridor, blasting as many as he can. O'Connell then lights a stick of dynamite and throws it into a dead end, blowing a hole through the wall and killing off more mummies: O'Connell and Jonathan then make their way through the hole and into the sacrificial chamber. Imhotep, having chained Evelyn to a sacrificial altar, begins to perform the incantations that would bring Anck-Su-Namun back, almost stabbing Evelyn fatally before Jonathan intervenes. While Jonathan stands at the height of a staircase brandishing the Book of Amun-Ra, O'Connell sneaks into the chamber, takes a golden sword from a nearby statue, and begins take down the mummy priests, cutting Evelyn's chains as he does. most of the priests have fallen until a dismembered corpse grabs him by the ankles, pulling him down, while another tries to get at his neck, and the disembodied mummy hand of one priest grabs the sword. One final mummy takes a large stone slab in its grip, about to crush O'Connell before O'Connell reaches out towards the hand, taking the sword, and hacking down the mummy's legs before it can harm him. Jonathan then mistakenly summons up even more of the mummies, all sporting soldier garb and spears, compelling O'Connell to duel more of them. As a number of the mummies face O'Connell, he screams at them and the mummies roar back; O'Connell runs from them before they can catch him, through moats and corridors, scaling one wall by sliding up on a rope from a hanging cage. Dueling them on, O'Connell manages to destroy more as he runs down the stairs of the sacrificial chamber, decapitating two and burning one up until they finally outnumber and overpower him at the point of their spears, sickles and blades. Before they can bring down their attacks, however, the mummies are stopped by Jonathan, who reads the final incantations for the spell that summoned the mummies up, stopping them from harming O'Connell. Removing their blades from his face, the mummies stand motionless until Jonathan gives them the order to kill Anck-Su-Namun, which they carry out at once, despite Imhotep ordering them to kill O'Connell. He tries to get the book, but he is too late to save Anck-Su-Namun, who is hacked to death by the mummified guards. In anger, Imhotep lunges forward to strangle Jonathan, but O'Connell leaps forward and chops off the mummy's arm, which holds onto Jonathan's neck, the arm's rotted sinews reveal that below his human appearance, the mummy is still a dead man inside. In reciprocation, Imhotep seizes O'Connell by the shirt and throws him, not caring that his robe has slipped off as his arm was chopped off. Jonathan then reaches through his robes and takes the puzzle box needed to open the Book of Amun-Ra, using it to open the Book as Evelyn reads through it, looking for the spell that would stop Imhotep. As the Carnahans look through the text, Imhotep throws O'Connell against statues and the floor until he seizes O'Connell up by his throat, strangling him, and prepares to deliver his final attack, unhinging his jaw. Evelyn, however, reads aloud the incantations to stop Imhotep, summoning the god Anubis, who rides into the chamber on his chariot and drives through Imhotep, taking away his immortality. Anubis has not, however, killed Imhotep, and Imhotep moves forward furiously towards O'Connell, intending to kill him, but O'Connell is ready with his sword, impales the priest as he lunges forward. Evelyn reveals that Imhotep is mortal, and the mummy steps back dying into a moat, dying while numerous souls engulf him, reducing him to a mummy once more as he utters his final words: "Death is only the beginning" Escape from Hamunaptra In another corridor, Beni is walking with a saddlebag full of stolen valuables from the treasuries, triggering the collapse of Hamunaptra by leaning the bag on a lever on the wall. O'Connell, Jonathan and Evelyn, hear the walls crumbling, take the opportunity to leave, though Jonathan has tripped on a staircase and drops the Book of Amun-Ra in a moat; Evelyn chastises Jonathan for dropping the Book before O'Connell and Jonathan hurry her along. As the three ran through the corridors and chambers, Jonathan stops in the treasury, wondering why they can't take some of the treasures with them before O'Connell and Evelyn rush him out as well. As they are escaping the crumbling ruins, a familiar face follows them: Beni, who had tried to catch up with O'Connell, but could not make it through a collapsing doorway in time. O'Connell, despite Beni's previous betrayals, makes an effort to help Beni out of the chamber, but could not pull him out in time as the doorways closes, sealing Beni in, a carnivorous scarab appears atop a statue's head and hisses menacingly at Beni, who tries to stave the bug off with his torch. With this, swarms of the scarabs came out to greet a horrified Beni. He tries to stave them off as well, only succeeding in causing more to emerge. Beni stands in the treasury trembling and whimpering with terror as his torch quickly dies out, leaving Beni to be devoured alive in the pitch black darkness. O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan run quickly from the ruins, reaching the surface as it crashes down in a massive series of dusty explosions. Once the trio have escaped, a hand reached out to Jonathan: Ardeth has escaped the ruins alive, astride a camel, and informs them that they have earned the respect of the Medjai for their defeat of Imhotep. Blessing them in Allah's name, Ardeth rides off into the sunset, leaving them behind as Jonathan complains that they go home empty-handed, but O'Connell says that he, at least, is not empty-handed, as he has found Evelyn, kissing her deeply, this sight displeasing Jonathan who attempts to kiss a camel. The three survivors then mount camels and ride off into the sunset, unaware that they have some treasures with them in a saddlebag, courtesy of Beni. Cast *Brendan Fraser … Richard O'Connell *Rachel Weisz … Evelyn Carnahan *John Hannah … Jonathan Carnahan *Arnold Vosloo … Imhotep *Kevin J. O'Connor … Beni Gabor *Oded Fehr … Ardeth Bay *Jonathan Hyde … Dr. Allen Chamberlin *Erick Avari … Dr. Terence Bey *Bernard Fox … Captain Winston Havelock *Stephen Dunham … Mr. Henderson *Corey Johnson … Mr. Daniels *Tuc Watkins … Mr. Burns *Omid Djalili … Warden Gad Hassan *Aharon Ipalé … Pharaoh Seti I *Patricia Velasquez … Anck-Su-Namun *Carl Chase … Hook *Mohammed Afifi … Hangman *Abderrahim El Aadili … Camel Trader Trivia * In the hanging scene at the Cairo Prison, Brendan Fraser really is struggling to breathe, and is actually being hanged. While shooting the scene, the actor blacked out from the tight rope, and nearly died if not for the medics that came to his aid. * Joe Dante was originally attached to direct, and some of his ideas survived in the final movie, such as the scarab beetles. * Arnold Vosloo only agreed to the part of Imhotep if he could “play him absolutely straight.” * The role of Rick O’Connell had originally been offered to stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. None were either available or had no desire to accept the role. * The Ancient Egyptian dialogue in the first two Mummy films were "reconstructed" by Egyptologist Stuart Tyson Smith, who did the same for the science-fiction film Stargate. It is unknown how to speak and properly pronounce Egyptian dialect, since vowels were not written into hieroglyphics. * The antique biplane (supposedly a De Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth) used for this film during the sandstorm sequence is the same that was used by Indiana Jones and his father Henry Jones Sr. to escape a Nazi dirigible in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. * In real life, there really are beetles indigenous to Egypt known as scarabs, but they are not flesh-eaters as portrayed in the film. They were actually considered holy and were worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians. * The inscription written upon the chest reading "Death will come on swift wings to whomsoever opens this chest" is a rewrite of the alleged curse of the pharaoh Tutankhamun, which read "Death shall come on swift wings to him who disturbs the peace of the king". * John Hannah broke his wrist during the filming of the movie. He had to wear a black cast through the end of the film. * The movie was released on DVD on September 28, 1999. * The soundtrack was released on May 4, 1999. Appearances All appearances are considered first appearances. For character appearances see the "Cast" section. Mentioned Characters * Ramses * Howard Carnahan * Evelyn Carnahan's mother * God * Horus Creatures *Cleo *scarab *horse *camel *donkey *rat *dog *frog *fly *locust *pigeon Locations *Egypt **Cairo **Fort Brydon **Cairo prison **Cairo Museum of Antiquities *Alexandria *Libya *Nile *Giza *Sahara **Hamunaptra **Thebes Artifacts * Book of the Dead * Book of Amun-Ra * Key (Puzzle Box) Video The Mummy (1999) - Trailer 1 (film order) Category:The Mummy Films Category:Mummy